sn't nearly as urgent then."

"And that's why they had to go into hiding?" Diana asked.

"Correct, miss," Bor Mellistos said. "The only one we managed to catch
was the woman calling herself Aphrodite, or Venus." He looked at the
substitute Venus. "That's the one you replaced, miss."

"How did you catch her?" Forrester pursued.

"Well," Bor Mellistos said, turning a faint shade of orange with
embarrassment, "she was--ah--engaged in a secret liaison with a mortal
at the time. Knowing that two of the other gentlemen would be furious
with her if they discovered this fact--"

"Mars and Vulcan," Forrester supplied.

"Quite correct, sir," Bor Mellistos said. "Knowing, as I say, that they
would be furious, she had taken special pains to hide herself. When the
alarm reached the others that we were coming, they could not warn her.
As a result, when she returned to Mount Olympus, we were waiting for
her."

"Serves her right!" Zeus said with indignation.

Bor Mellistos said: "Quite," very politely.

"And then," Forrester said, "you patrolled this place for a while."

Bor Mellistos nodded. "We left about three hundred years ago, finally
deciding that they had gone elsewhere. By the way, do you know where
they were hiding all this time?"

"My guess," Diana said, "is that they were here on Earth, of course."

"Naturally, miss," Bor Mellistos said. "But where?"

Zeus shrugged. "All sorts of places. I ran a tailor shop myself,
pressing and cleaning. I understand that Poseidon and Pluto entered
freak shows--they were fine attractions, too. Pan lived mostly in the
forests, doing well enough for himself running wild. Diana and Athena
ran a small hairdressing studio in Queens. And Venus--"

"Please," Venus interrupted.

"Perfectly honorable profession," Zeus objected. "One of the oldest.
Perhaps the very oldest. And I don't see why--"

"Please!" Venus insisted.

Zeus shut up with a little sigh.

"At any rate," Bor Mellistos said, "that's the story up to date. And now
there's only the question of the Overseer positions. Would you like to
fill them?"

"Who?" Venus asked. "_Us?_"

"Well," Bor Mellistos said, "you have the experience. And we do need
someone to take over. You see, three thousand years ago your technical
attainments were not large. There was little need for an Overseer. Now,
however, you are nearly at the stage where you will be invited to join
the Galactic Federation. And we must make sure you do not do